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News

NEVILLE HILL TRAIN DEPOT OPENS ITS DOORS

8th September 2009

Ever wondered what it takes to look after the fleets of trains that carry passengers to London and across the Yorkshire and Humber and Midlands Regions - well now is your chance to find out.

For the first time in over 35 years the gates of Neville Hill Train Maintenance Depot, Osmondthorpe, Leeds will open to the public as Northern Rail and East Midlands Trains host their Community Open Day.

On Sunday 13 September it really will be fun for all the family as Neville Hill Depot entertains neighbours and friends with a host of activities and displays including:

Special guests stars of Leeds Rhinos will be on hand to meet fans young and old

Tours of the depot to see how trains are maintained

Children’s entertainment including face painting

Displays of the types of trains maintained at the depot over the years including heritage steam and diesel locomotives

Local community stalls

Martial arts displays

Live music

In addition, East Midlands Trains will be launching its first newly refurbished HST at the event – and this will be marked by a special train naming. Tim Sayer, Engineering Director: “We’ve recently embarked on a £9million refurbishment of our HSTs, which is being carried out at Neville Hill Depot, and with the first HST set now almost complete, we’ve decided to unveil it for the first time at the Community Open Day.

“To mark the completion of the first refurbished set, and at the same time honour the very worthy Railway Children’s Charity, we’re also going to be holding a naming ceremony to recognise the valuable and important work carried out by the Railway Children’s Charity.”

The train naming event will take place at midday on Sunday 13 September, and power car 43082 will be named.

Mick Fletcher, District Maintenance Manager East, Northern Rail said: “Neville Hill has been an important part of the local community for over 130 years, with over 450 people employed here. We want to celebrate these connections and hope our neighbours will take the opportunity to come along and see what we do in the depot and have a great day out at the same time.”

Gates will open at 10am and close at 4pm with last tickets issued at 3.30pm. Tickets are available on the day priced:

Early entry (9am) £10

Family (two adults and two children) £5

Individual £2

OAPs, Students and Under 16s £1

All proceeds will go to local charities. Parking is restricted around the depot so a free shuttle bus will operate from / to Leeds Station. The local no37 bus also stops near the depot.